U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke says he is recommending that none of the 27 national monuments under review by the Trump administration – including Idaho’s Craters of the Moon – would be eliminated, but added that changes would be made to a “handful.”
Zinke says that unspecified boundary adjustments for some monuments are among the recommendations he planned to give the president Thursday. Zinke says none of the sites would revert to state or private ownership, while public access for uses such as hunting, fishing, or grazing would be maintained or expanded.
The administration’s review has alarmed conservationists worried that protections could be lost for areas that include ancient cliff dwellings, towering sequoia trees, deep canyons, and ocean habitats.
Trump acted on complaints that a century-old law had been misused to create oversized monuments that hinder energy development, logging and other uses. (AP)
